Alien in charge, p.13
Alien in Charge, page 13
part #1 of Warriors of Gehar Series
I think about Garen’s dead body, eaten by those worms. I remember standing in the middle of the Petosa Command Center vowing to find out what happened.
And I did. Wherever Garen is, I hope that it brings him a measure of peace.
After a long gap where there was basically no one in charge of the Earth Federation embassy, there’s finally a new Earth Federation Ambassador to the Gehar Empire. I haven’t met Maya Amadayo yet, but Poppy seems cautiously hopeful. “She seems okay so far,” she’d said when I talked to her last week. “She’s Diplomatic Corps, but at least she hasn’t come in with the attitude that she knows everything.”
I’m cautiously hopeful too. I’ve been temporarily acting as the refugee liaison, but I’m not really good when people complain to me. Especially when it’s about something really dumb. “I want to buy my own speeder,” a man had whined to me last week. “I have my eye on a Torvik speedster.”
It had taken all the willpower I possessed to keep my tone even. “Torvik speedsters are an environmental disaster, and their import is strictly forbidden in the Gehar Cluster.” I could not believe I had to say it. He came from Nefrid, for stars’ sake. The air was so polluted that people were dying of ancient, long-eradicated diseases like lung cancer.
“This is bullshit,” he’d complained. “The communal speeders aren’t fast enough.”
What he needed were the secret override codes. Too bad he wasn’t getting them from me.
The rest of my crew couldn’t live in Reganne forever. Hakan Abiri had suggested they move to the Gehar Cluster. “They’re your family, after all,” he’d said.
I’d been a little suspicious—this is Abiri, after all, and he’s always looking for an advantage—but he’d been true to his word. My crew made it to Kissura, and they’re adjusting to civilian life.
They’re attending the wedding, obviously. The twelve of us had spent all of last night reminiscing about old missions. We’d gone through a fair amount of cav. I would be hungover this morning, but Tahar gave me one of his magic fizzy pills. “I’m not going to make a habit of handing these out,” he said. “But just this once, I think I can make an exception.”
The cav was great. Reminiscing with my crewmates was amazing. I still miss Jehan though. Unlike Mina, I can sleep fine. (Luna has decided that what I’m missing is her company, and she has kindly taken to sleeping on my stomach.) But I miss sex, damn it. Surely this much frustrated energy cannot be good for me.
It rains the morning of my wedding day. (The wedding ceremony happens two days into the five-day affair, and the parties continue for three days after.) Anusha is thrilled by this. “A very auspicious sign,” she says approvingly. “This bodes well for your marriage.”
She supervises my hair and makeup, watching carefully as the makeup artist paints the intricate symbols of peace and prosperity and happiness onto my hands and arms. Then both of them help me into my new ikbasi, the one Dimek and Mina had commissioned for me. It’s a deep shade of red—the wedding ikbasii are always red—and it’s embroidered all over with intricate gold filigree work.
It took the makers eight weeks to make it. I protested that I didn’t need a new outfit, but Mina wouldn’t hear of it. “No,” she’d said firmly. “Dimek wants to do this for you. It’s what his mother would have done. You are being welcomed into Clan D’arana, Keomi. That’s what this gift signifies. When I got married, Jehan commissioned one for me for the same reason. If he hadn’t done so, I would have always doubted my place among them, but when he delivered the ikbasi, I knew he considered me family.”
That story made me a little weepy, and after that, I stopped protesting.
Anusha is gazing approvingly at me when her comm beeps. She frowns down at it. “By the Mother,” she swears. “Surely we didn’t screw up this badly…”
“What happened?”
“There doesn’t seem to be adequate food for the Vikari. Ofri Nehari is attending with most of his flock. I told Kedar…” Her voice trails off. “I better go deal with this. I’ll be right back, child.”
The makeup artist is gone too. It’s just me here, all by myself. I gaze longingly at Jehan’s tent. It’s pitched opposite mine. It’s just there, taunting me with its presence.
I haven’t seen him in seven days. Too long.
As if Jehan reads my mind, my comm vibrates. “Sure you don’t just want to elope to Zabala?” he quips. “I miss you, Kae. Last night, I even hugged the damn cat because I decided she smelled like you. She did not like it. She scratched my chin and escaped.”
I laugh out loud. “If the tabloids find out about that statement, your reputation is going to be ruined. Mina said we could make up for lost time on our honeymoon.”
“Oh, I intend to do that.” His voice dips. Turns wicked. “But in the meanwhile, are you alone in your tent?”
“I am. Anusha had some kind of crisis. She got a message saying that—”
“The Vikari were running out of food,” he finishes. “Ofri has promised to keep her busy for an hour, minimum. In exchange for a favor, of course, but I don’t care about that. Whatever he wants, it’ll be worth it.”
I start to laugh. “Did you arrange a distraction?”
“Of course I did.” On the screen, his eyes glow gold. “Take off your clothes, Kae.”
Comm sex is good, but I have a much better idea. I start to move toward my tent flap. “Okay, but tradition—”
“Kae, come on. This is a stupid tradition.”
“You’re saying you don’t believe we’ll fight the entirety of our marriage if we catch a glimpse of each other before the wedding?”
“No, I don’t. It’s a ridiculous superstition that’s designed expressly to frustrate the crap out of me.”
“Oh good.” I stick my head outside my tent and look around. No one is in sight. I dart across the narrow clearing and slip into Jehan’s tent. “Because screw the rules. I want you.”
The wedding ceremony itself is short. Jehan gives me gifts of salt, bread, fruit, and water. I do the same. He drinks from my glass; I drink from his. We hold hands, and we both light a fire.
Drums beat loudly, announcing our marriage. And that’s it. Just like that, we’re married.
There’s a receiving line. There are literally hundreds of people here that we need to greet. Then there’s the feast. But for the moment, the universe narrows to just us. Jehan gazes down at me, his eyes glowing golden. “Hello, Kae,” he murmurs. “Have I told you I love you?”
He kisses me, deep and slow.
We met when we were eighteen. It took us fifteen years to find each other again. This time, I know what matters. I’m going to hold onto his love, and I’m going to love him back. Always and forever.
Bella
I’m originally from Axiom, and so I know something that my crewmates, especially the ones from more prosperous planets like Atlantis and New Mumbai, don’t.
Nothing is free.
Not air.
Not water.
And certainly not shelter.
Hakan Abiri finds me during a lull in the festivities. Keomi and Jehan have departed on their honeymoon, Luna in tow. (It’s still weird to refer to Captain Hearne by her first name.) The party is still going strong, however, and it will for a couple more days at least. To someone from Axiom, the abundance is almost overwhelming.
“We had an agreement, you and I,” he says.
“We did.” We knew we couldn’t hide on Reganne forever—Petosa’s minions would find us there. We needed better protection, and the Geharrim had offered it. Specifically, Hakan Abiri had offered it.
In exchange for an unspecified price.
Desperate people don’t have the luxury of choice. Desperate people take what’s on offer and deal with the consequences later. I wanted to live, and I wanted my teammates to live too, and so I accepted his offer.
Time to pay for that decision.
“What do you want?” I’m proud of myself. My voice doesn’t shake. I sound brave. I don’t feel brave.
“A man has been wounded. I want you to tend to him.”
“Tend to him?” I find myself asking. “Is that a euphemism for sex?”
Abiri casts his eyes skyward. “By the Mother. Can humans only think of sex? No. Adon lives like a recluse. He talks to no one. He goes nowhere. He did not even attend the wedding, and I have it on good authority that he likes Keomi. He’s shut himself off from the world.” His cool gray eyes fall on me. “This is your field of expertise. I want you to tend to him. Eat meals with him. Talk to him. Laugh with him. I want you to bring him back.”
Well, it could be worse. I think. “What if I fail?”
“You will tend to him,” Abiri repeats implacably. “No matter how long it takes. That is my price. The price you agreed to.”
“Why do you care what happens to this man?”
I’m reasonably sure Hakan Abiri is going to tell me to mind my own business. Surprisingly, he responds. “Because,” he says, his voice anguished. “I am responsible for the accident that scarred him.”
The curtain parts, just for a split-second, and I see raw honesty in Abiri’s golden eyes. And then he yanks it shut again. “So,” he says crisply. “Do we have a deal?”
There’s always a price to be paid. “Yes.”
“Good. You’ll head to the D’arana clan house as soon as the wedding festivities are over. Dimek and Mina won’t be in residence; they spend most of their time in Louen. I’ve arranged for Jehan and Keomi to be away too. You’ll be alone with Adon.”
The pieces fall in place. I finally figure out who Abiri wants me to fix.
Adon D’arana.
The Beast.
Thank you for reading ALIEN IN CHARGE!
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WANT ADON AND BELLA? The Warriors of Gehar series continues with ALIEN BEAST.
Adon and Bella’s story is a Geharrim retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Click here to order it, or turn the page for a free preview.
This human I’m saddled with is… happy. Cheerful, even. She likes to sing to the cat.
Kill me now.
A year ago, an explosion – the same explosion that killed my best friend's brother – destroyed me.
Ruined me.
Made me look like a monster.
I’m a shadow of the man I once was.
I want to be left alone.
Instead… there’s Bella.
Bella, who sings when she’s happy.
Who likes to talk.
Who is kind to me…even when I don’t deserve it.
She drives me crazy. And yet…
I can’t stop thinking about her.
Touching her.
Making her mine.
But when an enemy reemerges from Bella’s past, I can no longer stay hidden.
And when they threaten her?
They’ll discover why I’m called the Beast.
A Preview of Alien Beast
This human I’m saddled with is… happy. Cheerful, even. She likes to sing to the cat.
Kill me now.
A year ago, an explosion – the same explosion that killed my best friend's brother – destroyed me.
Ruined me.
Made me look like a monster.
I’m a shadow of the man I once was.
I want to be left alone.
Instead… there’s Bella.
Bella, who sings when she’s happy.
Who likes to talk.
Who is kind to me…even when I don’t deserve it.
She drives me crazy. And yet…
I can’t stop thinking about her.
Touching her.
Making her mine.
But when an enemy reemerges from Bella’s past, I can no longer stay hidden.
And when they threaten her?
They’ll discover why I’m called the Beast.
Bella
I’m having the conference dream again.
My paper on genetic diversity in food supply has been accepted by Echelon, the most prestigious publication in the Earth Federation, and I've been invited to present at their annual conference. It's an almost impossible achievement for a woman from Axiom.
Unfortunately, the invitation is last-minute, and I have no time to shop for clothes. I show up to the conference wearing a suit I borrowed from Captain Keomi Hearne. It’s a little too big. It hangs off my shoulders and makes me look like I’m playing dress-up in my mother’s clothes.
I try not to let it bother me. Determined to do my best to fit in, I sidle up to a group of scientists. They’re discussing my paper. “Groundbreaking research,” one of them says. “It's going to revolutionize food production across the Federation. She’s wasted in Space Fleet. I want her at the University of Madrid.”
Oh, wow. The University of Madrid is doing cutting-edge research on food production in hostile environments. I grew up on Axiom, which is about as hostile an environment as it gets. It’s been my life ambition to make life easier for the colonists there.
The thought of leaving the Prestige sends a stab of anxiety through me. I push it to the background. This is too big an opportunity to turn down. “I’d love to work there,” I say shyly.
The scientist notices me for the first time. He stops speaking and looks down his long nose at me. “Excuse me?” he says. “Did you say something?”
Sweat beads on my forehead. Everyone is staring at me. This is my worst nightmare. “I’m Bella Ortiz,” I whisper. “I authored the paper you were discussing.”
There is a moment of stunned silence. The scientists take in my diminutive height, my red cheeks, and my too-big suit.
And they start to laugh.
They point to me and jeer. The sound of their laughter grows, filling the room. Tears of rage fill my eyes. “There is no need to be mean.”
But my voice turns high-pitched when I'm stressed, and the words come out in a squeak. They only laugh harder.
The scene shifts. I’m on Reganne, the human colony that lies outside Earth Federation’s control. The crew of the Prestige, all eleven of us, are holed up in a small room in a shabby hotel on the outskirts of town. I had to hawk the sapphire pendant that was my mother’s only piece of jewelry to be able to pay for it.
Two days ago, we were members of Space Fleet. But now, our ship has been destroyed, and we’re being hunted by Internal Affairs. Our currency accounts haven't been frozen, but if we access them, they will be able to track us. We don’t know who to trust. We don’t know what to do.
We head to a market to buy food, but we have no credits.
Then a man walks up to Commander Anders Duran, who is the closest thing I have to a father. He gives him a sly grin. “If you’re selling, I’ll buy her,” he says, gesturing to me. “I like them young. Ten credits an hour, and I’ll pay extra if I can hurt her.”
Commander Duran’s face darkens with fury. “How dare you?” he snarls. “You fucking sleaze.”
Guns are drawn. People shoot at us. Thom, Sarit, and Fernando, the soldiers in our crew, fire back. I cringe, making myself as small a target as possible.
The man that wanted to buy me lifts his weapon, aiming it at Anders.
I have a clean shot at him. I lift my gun, but my hands tremble. My stomach churns. There’s no stun setting on my weapon. If I shoot this man, he will die.
I hesitate a moment too long. The man fires. Commander Duran goes down.
No, no, no. I scream in disbelief. This can't be happening. He can’t be dead. This is my fault. It’s all my fault…
I wake up drenched in sweat. My heart races, and terror pounds through me. It takes me a minute to get my bearings, to realize I’m not on Reganne. I’m in the Gehar Empire, on the planet of Kissura. Anders Duran is alive. My crew is safe.
It was only a dream. It's not real.
I do the breathing exercises I've been taught. Deep breath in. Hold for the count of ten. Big exhale. Repeat. I perform them until my pulse steadies.
I thought that my time on Reganne hadn’t affected me too badly, but my subconscious begs to differ, throwing up nightmares night after night to haunt me.
You are safe. I repeat the mantra again. You are in a tent in the middle of the Saad desert. You are at the wedding of Captain Hearne. Keomi is marrying Jehan, the Second Shield of Gehar. The Geharrim have offered you refuge. As long as you stay in the Gehar Cluster, no one can harm you.
My heartbeat evens. I get out of bed, pull my hair into a ponytail, wrap a robe around myself, and head to the shower station. I meet my tentmate Melis on the way there.
Melis Saygi is a geologist, part of the crew of the Prestige. She’s already showered. Her hair is damp, and she looks blissfully relaxed. “Long baths are the best,” she says. “I soaked in the tub for twenty minutes, and the timer never went off. I can hardly believe it.” She takes a closer look at my face, and her smile fades. “What’s wrong, Bella?”
“Nothing.” I don’t want to dump my troubles on Melis. “I had a bad dream, that’s all.”
